Lucy Bickers picks up produce from local farmers packed by Winter Sun Farms. Subscribers are picking up their first of four monthly winter boxes of produce this week, with more to come through March.

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More than two dozen vendors offered samples and sold their locally produced items, mostly made in the kitchens of Blue Ridge Food Ventures, at Wednesday's Holiday Marketplace on the Enka campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Products such as UliMana organic chocolates, GalloLea Pizza Kits and Rachel's Delectables Cheesecakes were for sale along with fresh local meats and eggs, wild-caught salmon and fresh bagels.

Blue Ridge Food Ventures, started by AdvantageWest, is a nonprofit that serves as a commercial kitchen and small-business incubator for more than 230 ...